a life less ordinary
a life less ordinary
0 Comments | Capital, Dec 23, 2005 | by WENDI WINTERS
Several dozen witty pen-and-ink drawings and a small, overloaded bookcase are about all that remains of Romanian-born Mircea Vasiliu’s rich career as an internationally known artist.
Hired movers inadvertently tossed portfolios and boxes containing his works into a Dumpster when the artist, author, lawyer and former diplomat moved two years ago from Long Island, N.Y., to Baywoods of Annapolis.
Much of what’s left is now on display in a one-man show at the retirement community’s Norair Hall: more than a dozen original paintings and proof sets for Christmas cards he created for the American Artists Group of New York from the 1960s through the ’90s, photocopies of drawings affectionately caricaturing the Algonquin Round Table literary and Manhattan high society set, and a hysterically funny series titled “A Day in the Life of a Tipsy Knight,” which portrays an armored knight in modern life, circa 1960.
Like Galileo, Vargas, Cher, Madonna and Sting, the 85-year-old was known professionally by one name:
Vasiliu.
His most recent works, posters advertising events at Baywoods, continue to express the sophisticated humor that kept his work in demand for five decades.
Anne Nelson, a resident of Baywoods and a retired Cornell University faculty member, admitted she’d never heard of Mr. Vasiliu’s work before he moved to Baywoods. She pronounced his name, “Mir-cha.”
“He’s a great addition to the community, very polished and sophisticated with an ebullience bubbling up,” she said. “He had a great deal of hardship in his life – getting stuck here after the Communist takeover in his country and making his way in New York City as an artist. He got through it all in high spirits.”
Author at 13
Mr. Vasiliu’s first book, a slender self-illustrated volume he wrote at age 13 in Romanian, was called “Trifles.” It was a best- seller in his homeland and went through several printings.
He graduated from the University of Bucharest and became a lawyer and a diplomat in Romania. After World War II, he was sent to Paris and later to Washington, D.C., appointed third secretary of the Romanian Legation.
When the Communists overran his homeland, forcing King Michael to abdicate, Mr. Vasiliu resigned his job rather than serve the new regime. Suddenly a displaced person, he was in danger if he tried to go home. The U.S. gave him asylum, a green card – and not much else.
In his humorous 1955 autobiography, “The Pleasure Is Mine,” detailing his dashing diplomatic years, he recalls a brief meeting in Washington with the wife of the deposed king. A turncoat member of the legation threatened him with bodily harm, and Mr. Vasiliu went into hiding until the man was declared persona non grata by the U.S. and deported.
In 1963, he followed up with a retelling of his life in his new homeland in “Which Way to the Melting Pot?”